Tempus per annum: timeless chant from last medieval monastery in Britain.

Pluscarden Abbey presents their first new recording in six years: Tempus per annum, an exploration into the wealth of music used during the year between feasts and religious seasons.

Researched, programmed, performed and, recorded by the monks of Pluscarden Abbey and produced by Ffin Records, this album has been crafted to share the rich variety of music used in Ordinary Time.

The album falls into four main sections - firstly joyous and dynamic, then meditative and slow, bold and confident, and finally adoring and glorifying, with a brief closing section dedicated to Mary the mother of Jesus. 

Mesmerising chant from the medieval Pluscarden Abbey

Monks feature on BBC Four and BBC Radio 3 

Pluscarden Abbey features on BBC Four and a BBC Radio 3 series this week, in 'Slow TV' and 'Slow Radio' programmes exploring the deep peace and serenity of the life in the community of monks living in this medieval monastery hidden away in rural Scotland. 

“The wordless, daily rhythms of Benedictine monks provided the most relaxing television that the “slow TV” trend has ever managed”

— Review in The Times

The BBC Four programme follows a typical day in the life at Pluscarden Abbey, from waking for the first service at 4.15am through to compline, the final service of the day before the monks retire to bed.

The BBC describes the programme: "filmed with an eye to the beauty and peace of the ancient surroundings, the film has a painterly quality that creates a feeling of restfulness and quiet contemplation. And by focusing on the natural sounds of nature and the peace of the abbey we have created a meditative soundtrack that adds to this unique experience." 

“Beautifully and unobtrusively filmed, this was an exemplar of its type, a universe away from the gratuitous celebrity, gratuitous music and gratuitous editorialising that crowds in on so many other programmes.”

— Review in The Independent

BBC Radio 3 series

The radio series is made of five 'slow radio' soundscapes, featuring themes from monastic life, including silence, meditation, and prayer. 

"The programmes allow the listener to appreciate life at a monk's pace, reflecting the gentleness and calm of monastic life. Listeners will hear musings from the monks themselves, interspersed with their singing and sounds from the natural world." - BBC

Listen at the BBC website.

Music of Pluscarden Abbey monks 

Every day of the year the monks gather and sing together several times, using Gregorian chant in the original Latin. Their intimate understanding and practical application of the music is captured in records remastered and released by Ffin Records.

The recordings have been praised as "flowing and graceful, and never clinical or cold" and as having "a high level of musical as well as spiritual sensitivity."

Mile End soundtrack

Ed Scolding's award-winning soundtrack for the critically acclaimed movie Mile End is released on CD and download on Saturday 15th April.

The film premieres on digital platform Flix Premiere in the UK on the same date, with the USA film release later in April.

“Mile End (reflects) a growing discomfort between Londoners and their financial emperors... P.s. the music by Ed Scolding is absolutely brilliant…”

— CRISPY SHARP

“The score, by Ed Scolding, moves from harmony to discord, adding considerably to the tension and sense of foreboding. Elsewhere, percussive elements draw us in to Paul’s obsession and anxiety.”

— QUADRAPHEME

Out now - Gregorian chant from Pluscarden Abbey

Our first release from Pluscarden Abbey is out now! The Liturgy of Easter is a remastered recording originally made between 2010 and 2011. 

The meticulously remastered release of Gregorian chant was recorded by the monks of Pluscarden Abbey, Scotland - the only medieval British monastery still being used for its original purpose.

The monks at Pluscarden pray together in Latin through Gregorian chant several times each day of the year, as a core part of their worship. This album features the music they sing at Easter, a particularly important occasion for Benedictine monks.

All music was sung and recorded by the monks of Pluscarden Abbey in  2010 and 2011. The CD includes a 32-page booklet with full text and translation, and commentary on every piece, written by the monks.

Find it at:

The monks' singing shows a high level of musical as well as spiritual sensitivity. The almost perfect ensemble of the Choir is impressive, even in those pieces involving the whole community. The monks' joy and spiritual fervour are almost palpable.
--Sr. Bernadette Byrne OSB, Choir Mistress, St. Cecilia's Abbey, Ryde, in the Ryde Chronicle Christmas 2010

This is beautiful and intelligent singing... expressive and moving (in both senses of the word), never too slow. It has the ring of truth. Buy this disc and listen to it. Holy Week will be there for you.
--Christopher Francis, review in the bulletin of the Association for Latin Liturgy

The CD is accompanied by a wonderfully informative booklet, in marked contrast to many a heavily marketed chant recording. The Pluscarden monks incorporate into their interpretation the work of recent chant scholarship, though this is done naturally and not as a self-conscious academic exercise. Their singing generally exhibits that light energy and springiness that are essential for good chant performance, giving the line a sense of momentum. The abiding impression of the CD is of a community at prayer; it is as if the listener is invited to join the monks and re-connect with the ancient chant of the Church, as it intensifies the message of those powerful texts that concern us at the most solemn moments in the liturgical year.
--Richard Jones, review in Music and Worship, the magazine of the Society of St. Gregory

First listen: chant from Pluscarden Abbey

Listen to Alleluia, Lapis Revolutus Est from THE LITURGY OF EASTER, our new release coming in summer 2016. The recording of Gregorian chant sung by the monks of Pluscarden Abbey will be available on iTunes, Amazon and all major online stores.

Hinterland / Y Gwyll Series Two soundtrack

Updated April 2016

The soundtrack album for the second series of Welsh noir TV hit Hinterland / Y Gwyll is out now.

Get it at iTunes, Amazon mp3, Amazon CD, direct from Bandcamp, and in all major download stores. 

 

ALCHEMY

Listen to The Joy Of Calculus from ALCHEMY, the new album from John Hardy Music released 20th November 2015.

Buy it now from iTunes, Amazon or direct from Bandcamp.

Welsh noir hits home... and beyond

Welsh noir series Hinterland (Y Gwyll in Welsh) has been making waves across its homeland, throughout the UK on BBC 4 and internationally on Netflix.

As the second series is launched, composer John Hardy reflects on writing the music for series one:

"The creators and producers of the programme talk about Hinterland as a place that's in their mind and their imagination. It's kind of a fictitious place but you still have to make that, you have to populate it with believable characters and atmospheres to convince an audience. And we try to make music that helps to define what that place is. It's all very inspiring when it is that visually rich, when the pictures are that strong and the sense of lace and mood is that beautiful and that powerful, it really helps to come up with interesting ideas for the sound."